29Oct15

Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), a regional branch of al Qaeda's
international organization, has posted a eulogy for Mansur al Shalali (aka
"Harun"), the slain military commander of Ansar al Sharia in Libya.

The picture on the right purportedly shows Shalali. It was posted on the Good
Morning Libya Twitter feed.

AQIM's statement, which was published via social media earlier today, is
further confirmation that Ansar al Sharia is seeded with al Qaeda veterans
throughout its ranks. AQIM praises Shalali as a "martyr," noting that he fought
the army in Algeria for six years. Attacks on the Algerian government were
long one of AQIM's primary missions, but the weight of the organization has
shifted to elsewhere in North and West Africa over time.

Ansar al Sharia announced Shalali's death via social media on October 25. Not
much was publicly known about him until that time.

However, Ansar al Sharia said in its own eulogy that Shalali "lived on the
battlefields of jihad for many years," according to a translation obtained by
The Long War Journal. The group vowed to honor Shalali's memory by
continuing to fight until sharia law is implemented throughout all of Libya.

Press reports have identified Shalali as the brother of a jihadist who is slated
for execution in Iraq. According to Libya's Channel, Shalali's brother is Adil al
Shalali, who was a "leading" member of al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) and is awaiting
execution for his role in attacks on the Iraqi Army.

It appears that Adil al Shalali was featured on an Ansar al Sharia poster
published in December 2012. The poster, according to al-Wasat, advertised
Ansar al Sharia-led protests on behalf of Libyans imprisoned in Iraq. The
protests took place in Benghazi and Tripoli. Furthermore, a fighter going by
the same name, Adil al Shalali, was identified in records recovered in Iraq as
an applicant who wanted to join the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI), a political
front for AQI at the time. The application, dated October 11, 2007, notes that
Adil al Shalali is from the eastern Libyan city of Derna, where Ansar al Sharia
operates to this day.

Derna has long been a hotbed of extremism and jihadism. In fact, according
to AQIM, Mansur al Shalali fought in Benghazi and Derna after joining Ansar al
Sharia.

The public often does not learn key details about the jihadists in al Qaeda's
network until they are dead. Both al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP)
and al Qaeda leader Ayman al Zawahiri eulogized Mohammed al Zahawi, the
first overall leader of Ansar al Sharia in Libya, earlier this year. Zahawi died in
either late 2014 or early 2015. AQAP revealed that Zahawi personally met
with Osama bin Laden in the Sudan during the 1990s and adopted bin Laden's
"methodology" at the time. Zahawi never discussed these details in public,
preferring to hide his al Qaeda pedigree.

In an audio message released in early September, Zawahiri passed along his
"condolences" to his "mujahideen brothers in the Ansar al Sharia group in
Libya for the martyrdom of their emir, Sheikh Mohammed al Zahawi."
Zawahiri continued by asking Allah to compensate Ansar al Sharia for the loss
of Zahawi with a "good replacement." Zawahiri also asked Allah to "grant
them success…until sharia prevails all over the blessed Libya." That is,
Zawahiri's goals for Libya are the same as Ansar al Sharia's. Zahawi's
replacement was ultimately named as Abu Khalid al Madani, yet another
jihadist whose background is not advertised.

Ansar al Sharia Libya's ties to AQIM have been recognized by international
authorities. In November 2014, for example, the UN added Ansar al Sharia
Libya to its al Qaeda sanctions list, noting that the group is "associated" with
AQIM and had hosted Mokhtar Belmokhtar's fighters in its Benghazi training
camps. Some of those same fighters went on to take part in the January 2013
siege of a natural gas facility near In Amenas, Algeria. Belmokhtar runs his
own al Qaeda group, Al Murabitoon, and is openly loyal to Ayman al Zawahiri.
The UN also reported that AQIM has backed Ansar al Sharia's suicide
operations.

Ansar al Sharia Libya's tight relationship with AQIM is no secret inside Libya.
The Islamic State's "province" in Libya, which is opposed to al Qaeda and its
front groups, has even complained about the "closeness" of the two
organizations' leaders. During its "Wanted Dead" social media campaign, the
Islamic State's Libyan arm revealed additional details about the AQIM
members in Ansar al Sharia's ranks.

[Source: By Thomas Joscelyn, The Long War Journal, NJ, 29Oct15]

This document has been published on 12Nov15 by the Equipo Nizkor and Derechos Human Rights. In accordance with
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